For The Fallen

25th Festival of Remembrance – 29 October 2018 – Mansfield Palace Theatre. Presented by the Royal British Legion, Mansfield & Mansfield Bellamy Branches.

They shall grow not old, as we that are left grow old
Age shall not weary the, nor the years condemn.
At the going down of the sun, and in the morning,
We will remember them.

11 November 2018 is the centenary of the Armistice which formally terminated hostilities on the Western Front and brought that bloody and bitter conflict, which came to be referred to as the Great War, to an end.

The end of that war has a special meaning of course in centenary year but the remembrance of the fallen in 1914-1918 and of those who have given their lives in every other conflict since will continue as a moral imperative, lest we forget, for us and for every generation to come.

The items chosen for our programme this year were Rachie ( sung in Welsh), Mansions of the Lord, Gwahoddiad (sung in English), For the Fallen, Goin’ Up A Yonder ( with the Singers) and American Trilogy (with Blidworth Welfare Band).

Hush little baby don’t you cry
You know your daddy’s born to die
All my trials, Lord
Soon be over
( All My Trials from American Trilogy)

As always, it was a privilege, for us choristers to sing at this event. Barry Robinson (baritone) expressed his experience of singing one particular song,  “American Trilogy with the band was, in my opinion, out of this world.”

 

 

That amalgamation of three separate songs commemorates another conflict which was just as bitter and just as bloody and just as heartbreaking as any war. The songs and the piece together as a Trilogy encapsulate the agonies of loss in every war and the longings we all have for a world where there is no war.

This song and all of the  songs in the programme  we sang  with respect and honour for the fallen and for the  ones they left behind.

With special thanks to the Committee of the Royal British Legion in our local area and all those who organized the Event.